boston951

If there is a Lemon Law in effect, then its rules apply to the sale of all used cars. That is the first thing to check out. Good luck.

Mighty Shilling

Never in my life have I seen lemon law cover used cars. ever.

Lemon laws are written for new cars, not used, when purchased from the manufacturer.

Tedro951

I agree with DDC on the MBC. Maybe the MBC could cause a HG failure, but rod knock seems a stretch.

If you're feeling pretty generous, I'd buy him a set of rod bearings.

What kind of oil consumption did the car have? I sold a chevelle to a guy 30 years ago. He blew the engine a month or so later. He whined, I went to his place and pulled the dipstick. Dry.

Chris White

All bills of sales for 951 should have the following added to the line right next the buyers signature –
“don’t be a jerk”

It sounds like you are ready to go way past anything that you are ‘required’ to do and do a great favor to the buyer and to the 951 community. There are a lot of people that own 951s, some of them actually love 951s but there a only a few that really care about them enough to offer to help out strangers with their problems. You get a gold star and a smiley face on your report card for offer. If I had a decent used short block I would offer it to you for a case of beer.

If you do swap the engine out for the new owner make sure he gets his hands good and greasy and learns a thing or two. You should make a small wager with him – if there are signs of denotation (pitting on the piston tops) he owes you a case of beer or a detail job on your 951. If the oil in the engine looks like it was way too hot then he owes you (insert a wise assed item here)!

carlege

CW how can you tell if the oil got way to hot? Color/smell?

lee101315

We didnt make a bill of sale, but I explained that although its in great condition( the car in my avitar), its still a 25 year old car. I probably spent way more than I should have maintaining it... but he understood the car was a high maintenance finicky sports car and he expected to be constantly wrenching on it.

As for the engine, Ive spun many a rod bearing in my life. Ive been rebuilding engines before I was a teenager, so I know rod bearings dont spin on their own. Usually im quick enough to catch it early before it does any major damage. A few years ago I learned that as long as you keep the oil clean and filled to the max, dont drag race it, and keep the rpms under 6000, you shouldnt have any problems. This was the car I relied on for daily driving a long weekend trips, so I never really beat on it ( I have another 951 for that ).

Some of you guys made a great point of opening a can of worms. Ive already suggested he find a new clutch, but I almost forgot the exhaust o-rings in the crossover pipe cost a small fortune. The new owner understands that everything would be coming out of his pocket.

But I also have access to a full shop and I work on German cars for a living.
For me it would cost a day or a day and a half of work, for him, he would probably have to work over time for a few months to cover the cost of labor; and hes already volunteered to help.

Id like to thank the rennlisters that made extremely generous offers on short blocks through PM. Chris, If you did have a short block laying around and gave it to me, Id get you at least a Keg of beer. Thanks.

AScholtes

That's a little different situation... Helping him out, I can see (the wrenching part) as long as he's footing the bill for the parts.

From the first post it sounded as if you were going to replace the shortblock for him...

minho78

That's really nice of you to help him out.

schip43

]
Under 6000? Mine pulls hard till 7000 ish, but the guys here convinced me to quit doing that, so I shift at 6700 now.:
I'd suggest these guys for a clutch My Kep Stage 2 stuff is chattery all the time and now may have failed completely at two years! Not to happy at the moment, if I have to pull it all out I"m sending it to these guys to rebuild!
http://www.dxdracingclutches.com/

Chris White

Smell is the first thing you will notice; color can be a little deceiving. The ‘texture’ of the oil will tell you a lot, oil breaks down with too much heat and just doesn’t look the same.

The other thing to look at is how far the debris got around the engine. If he kept running it hard there will be bearing bits and pieces everywhere – including in the oil cooler. The stock oil cooler is hard to get really clean after a bearing goes, the factory manuals tell you to replace the cooler with a new one!

Jeff951NJ

Hey Im just out side or Princeton and have two short blocks you can take a look at. Like Chris White said I would only take a case of Beer for it. Hope I could help you out.......

hansman

Man if I was a betting man he probably turned the boost up & missed a shift during a race.

No way I would fix a thing
you are under no obligation unless you put in writing guaranteed or warranty.

tell him to sell it to lart and just buy mine
Make me an offer

User 52121

Really nice of you to step up and help out... that's part of what makes the 951 community such a close-knit one. If I were in your position I'd have a tough time figuring out where to draw the line with the "help." My dad used to be a mechanic and got screwed over a few times pretty hard by offering to help out - it can come back to bite you bad if not careful, and he pretty well beat it into me to not help after a sale is final. I've still done it a few times and have been bitten too Nowadays I probably screw myself out of a sale more often than not when I try to sell something due to all the "AS IS" disclaimers I put everywhere. But I'm not taking risks anymore and my bet is that most of the folks here that advise to tell the buyer to pound sand have gotten hosed before in similar situations.

I try to keep the Karma Gods happy by offering my help in situations where I was not the seller of something.

carlege

i would like to echo what CW said about getting the owners hands greasy. Lee as much as it might be a nuisance to have the owner around when your rebuilding the car its important for him to understand how much effort it takes to do a job like that. It makes the "i ****ed up" sink in better and the reality of the cost plus time and effort fully realized. Its not going to be the only time he will have to undertake a task in the engine bay if he was wise he would hand you the tools while observing.

onspeed

Props to you for helping him out for free. Especially given that you make a living working on cars and it sounds like they buyer was just some random guy who was interested in your car.

Keep us updated on what you find when you pull the old engine out.